the clouds have lifted

And if my friends aren't too hungover, we're going to drive to the quarry for a swim under the willow trees. We'll listen to this song on the way up.

i like today

Things that are making me happy right at this moment are:

 This dress from Deyrolle pour Opening Ceremony

 The work of Diana Drake

Warpaint, who were better last night than I'd even hoped (and I had high hopes). I've been wanting to see them play ever since Natalie put Billie Holiday on a mix she made our friends for their engagement a year ago. They make beautiful music and look like girls I would like to be friends with.

Emma Stone. Han went on and on about Easy A whhile she was here and I was skeptical, but I finally watched it and I loved it and am quite comfortable saying she is the new LiLo and it is the new Mean Girls.

rising sun blues

I need to know more about Alan Lomax, folklorist and ethnomusicologist. Listen to interviews with him and his biographers, as well as excerpts from his recordings, on NPR. He travelled the world recording folk songs and talking to folk singers. I especially love his early recordings of blues singers in the South. In 1937 he recorded "House of the Rising Sun", sung by 16 year old Georgia Turner on the street. And, you know "Po Lazarus", which the chain gang sings in O Brother Where Art Thou? He recorded that, in Mississippi State Penitentiary, in 1959. Its just so interesting. 

please please please

I'm going to Shout Out Louds in January and Warpaint in February and I'm looking forward to both shows ever so much. I'm especially looking forward to Shout Out Louds because Han is coming!

not listening when you say GOODBYYYYE

Talk about face palm.

Saw our lovely Kate do a monologue last night, she was fantastic! We followed this up by going to the seediest karaoke parlour we could find and getting on the whisks. It turns out that I can do Semi-Charmed Life by seminal 90s band Third Eye Blind really well accurately, even while shaking a light-up tambourine. I like the bit where he raps the best. 

you live your life like a page from the book of my fantasy

I'm listening to Warpaint's new album on Hype Machine. I can't wait until it's released next week.

siciliana

Hey Lou, how was The Knife's opera? I've been obsessing over one aria in particular at the moment, which I thought I'd force you to listen to. It is the Siciliana, or O Lola c'hai di latti la cammisa from Mascagni's Cavalleria Rusticana. It opens the opera, but is sung off-stage, which gives it a beautiful echo. The title means "O Lola, lovely as the spring's bright blooms". A siciliana is actually a musical style which has "lilting rhythms" which evoke a pastoral mood...which makes sense. The version below is by Italian Tenor Tito Schipa, recorded in 1913. To hear a more modern interpretation, click here!

happy monday lou!

Don't you love it when you're walking home late at night and a song comes on and sweeps you up? One that swells further and further to a tipping point before crashing down? That just happened to me, walking home after too many wines. I crossed the road and had to walk down the median strip in the middle of the road, headlights on either side, listening to A Sunday Smile, of course.

bummed out

A bummed-out opera playlist:


1. Vesti la guibba (Pagliacci). Canio discovers his wife has been unfaithful, but has to go and do a clown act. Bummer.
2. Dove sono (Marriage of Figaro). Countess Almaviva wonders why her husband is unfaithful, jealous and angry all at once.* 
3. Kuda, kuda (Onegin). Lensky muses on his impending duel with his BFF. 
4. Un bel di (Madame Butterfly). Madame Butterfly  imagines what its going to be like when her man comes back. He comes back with another lady, so she stabs herself.
5.  Mamicko, Mam Tezoku Hlavu (Jenufa). Jenufa is a very, very sad opera. "Gritty realism" "infanticide" "facial disfigurement". Meep. 





NB: Most of these I've actually put up here before, because I like sad songs. Also: lots of operas are sad.
*Because he's a DUDE.

i'm in the money

Oh my, it is pay day!

TOP 5 MUNDANE THINGS I NEED TO BUY:

1. Hair brush

2. Black tights

3. Razor

4. Toilet paper for my flat

5. Some food

I'm quite exited about numbers 1,3 and 5.

I'm also getting my eyebrows threaded tonight for the first time ever. I have lived to almost 25 without ever having a professional look at my eyebrows. I have this image in my head of a Princess Diaries style makeover which transforms me from dull, boring Han into spectacular, perfectly browed Han, with eyebrows to rival Rachael Weiz or Jennifer Connelly. This probably won't happen.

Today I am going to listen to Roller-coaster by the Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Band of Gold by Freda Payne and There She Goes by The La's. Band of Gold is my dream kareoke song and is about the worst honeymoon ever. Lou, I'd like you to listen to this song carefully and then give me feedback (if you don't like it I'm not sure if we can be friends any more and this blog and all that goes with it willend).

late night ranting

I watched Glee tonight, in something of a sick haze. I really don't like it when people put extra sounds in front of the words they're singing, like, "uuhhDON'T uuuhhhRAAAIN errrrOOONNNN aaahMMYYY PEEERRRRR-AAAADE". Words begin with the letters that they are meant to start with, right? So why should you add extra letters when you're singing them? It really rankles. Also, I don't like the way they all seem to lunge while performing. It makes the whole thing seem kind of...intense.

Enrico Caruso

I love listening to very old musical recordings. Enrico Caruso's rendition of "Una furtiva lagrima" from L'elisir d'amour, recorded in 1904 at Carnegie Hall, sounds impossibly romantic.

marie laforet

oh boy that made him mad!

Wanda Jackson is coming!

sound advice, the end

Part three of three, here's one and two.

Music Blogs
There are so many music blogs out there! It hurts my brain to try and comprehend them all so I tend to just let HypeM sort through them and tell me what to read. There are just a couple that I check regularly, and they are yet to disappoint. Rose Quartz is one of them, it has an awesome header and is run by four guys who are apparently spread across the globe, and have great taste in music. I don't even like everything they post, but I'll still assert that they will not disappoint, like it or not, I often haven't heard of it and it's usually pretty interesting. And I like the pictures they post with the songs. The other is Gorilla vs Bear. If Gorrilla vs Bear were just one person, they would have very similar music taste to me. I really don't know that much about them (him, her?) because I tend to go straight to the mp3s, but their 'about' page says they were once called 'the New Yorker of music blogs' which is cool for them. And they've started putting up monthly mixes, in addition to their regular posts. I was first introduced by GvB to Summer Camp, Here We Go Magic and Best Coast, among other current most faves. This post is a good place to start!

Photo by Clara Belzary, stolen from No Retrospective.

sound advice, part two

Yesterday I freaked out and thought I had nothing to listen to except sex advice. I asked some people to recommend stuff, and then I kind of remembered how incredible the internet is and how much there is out there to please our ears.

Besides the podcasts, here are some online mixes you may be interested in...
The Oak and Ivy is a pub in Perth, I've never been there so, rather than risk misinforming you, I won't tell you any more about it except that this website, which seems to have a bit to do with them, has some great mixes on it. They haven't updated since last year, but it's worth listening to the older ones. Natalie recommended the File magazine mixtapes to me yesterday, in the height of my listening dillema. I've only got through one so far and it's good! Also I love the whole idea and the fact that now I know about some artists who I didn't know about before. Natalie also, a while back, introduced me to Charm Bag (she's good like that), they're terribly good and random mixes, loved by me particularly for their variety. Episode 4, for instance, includes The Clean, Horrors, Dum Dum Girls, and The Shangri-Las...

I'm not sure who took these pictures of Davendra Banhart at the beach, but I found them at Wild at Heart, and he is a babe.

rrriot

Images from the Joffrey Ballet's recreation of Nijinksy's choreography of Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring (whew!). When it premiered with Les Ballet Russes in Paris in 1913, it caused a riot. I'll probably dream some strange dreams tonight.

sound advice

Are you one of those people who will listen to the same songs over and over again when you first discover them, until you're almost sick of them? I am. I'm a terrible repeater, which is part of why I love finding (and being led to) new music so much. A few of my friends are super reliable in this department, just about everything they recommend, 'like' on facebook, link to on twitter, or put on mixes for other friends, eventually makes it onto my over-played list.

I work in an office, at a desk, and have about seven hours of potential headphone listening in a day, not including the more social listening that goes on at home in the company of others. I reached a dillema this morning when I realised that my iPod had died, my work itunes doesn't have enough music on it, and I've already listened to waaaayy too much of the Savage Love podcast this week (seriously; bdsm, ggg, and vanilla in reference to anything besides the flavour should not be coming up in my daily vocab).

Here are some things to listen to should you ever be faced with a similar dillemma:

Podcasts
I'm a sucker for talky podcasts, I've listened to hundred of episodes of This American Life and recommend it to everyone. Their entire archives are available to listen to free online, if you can't wait a week between podcasts. I recently discovered Savage Love, sex and relationship advice from Dan Savage. He also writes a column and a blog and is hillarious and informative. Kris recommended the BBC's From Our Own Correspondent, which is also informative, though less hillarious. NPR music's All Songs Considered is an excellent resource for new music from emerging and well-known artists. They also do specials like the SXSW preview, or episodes hosted by celebrity guests (if you'd call Jonsi a celebrity?), as well as ASC, they do Tiny Desk Concerts (live concerts filmed in their studio), First Listen (exactly what it sounds like, exclusive previews of new albums) and Second Stage (just one song from emerging artists/bands). I also subscribe to a bunch of Radio NZ podcasts which I don't actually listen to so much, Kim Hill! Mostly because I remember listening to her with mum on Saturdays. Their This Way Up is kind of like a little, kiwi version of This American Life and recently had an episode about the history of Ice Cream! Cognac Jay was probably the first podcast I ever subscribed to and is pretty good getting ready to go out listening. I actually forgot about it entirely until I started writing this so have no idea what it's like now, but might be worth re-subscribing to find out. Stone's Throw is another old favourite, they do some pretty awesome specials and are definitely the best regular hip hop mixes I know of...

Do you have any favourite podcasts? There must be some more good music shows out there!

Okay so this post is getting a wee bit too long for my liking, BUT I HAVE SO MUCH TO SAY. Installments are the answer. Part two tomorrow, Online Mixetapes!

Update: crap I totally forgot to mention, the photos above are by the incredible Alex de Mora, he takes pictures of lots of lovely things, and punk shows. We Love You So loves him too. And he started Cat Party!!!

edit: cat party link updated oopsy.

take me where real animals are playing

The Kinks are my alltimefavouritenumberonebestever band because of this song:

"From the dew-soaked hedge creeps a crawly caterpillar"...It was the soundtrack to happy days sitting on my Daddy-o's shoulders. Seriously, this song makes me happier than any song ever has at any time in my whole entire life. Especially the gratuitous and joyful "la la la la la la la la la" bits. Go listen to the Kinks. They rule.

Also be sure to listen to "Animal Farm", from which I snipped the title of this post. Also, be sure to notice that the logo on their drum kit has little pants and shoes.